CAPITOL INSURRECTION - Marine Major Arrested

"Active-Duty Marine Major Arrested After Allegedly Pushing Police Officer in Capitol Riot" by Gina Harkins, Military.com 5/13/2021

A 40-year-old active-duty Marine Corps officer was arrested Thursday after federal agents said he violently broke into the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot, pushing through a line of police officers and positioning himself inside a doorway to pull others into the building with him.

Maj. Christopher Warnagiris, 40, of Woodbridge, Virginia, has been charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding police officers; obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder; and obstruction of justice, among other charges.  His arrest was announced Thursday by the Justice Department.

Maj. J.A.  Hernandez, a Marine spokesman at the Pentagon, confirmed Warnagiris is on active duty.  An artillery officer, Warnagiris is currently assigned to the Marine air-ground task force staff training program [MAGTF] with Training and Education Command based at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia.

Warnagiris has served since 2002 and reached the rank of major in September 2013, according to his service records.  He previously deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

His personal awards include three Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals and a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.

When asked about Warnagiris' case, Hernandez said there is no place for extremism in the Marine Corps.

A federal complaint says Warnagiris has been stationed at Quantico, which is about 35 miles outside Washington, since the summer of 2020.  He is scheduled to appear in a U.S. district court Thursday afternoon.

Warnagiris is one of dozens of military members and veterans accused of participating in the Jan. 6 takeover of the U.S. Capitol.  Supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the building to interrupt lawmakers' securing of the 2020 election, which President Joe Biden won.

Court documents claim the major was caught on a Capitol security camera among a group near the East Rotunda doors fighting their way into the building.  U.S. Capitol Police officers were standing guard outside the door, attempting to hold the crowd back, according to the documents.

The officers lost ground, and Warnagiris was allegedly the first person to push through the doors.

"The subject was wearing a dark jacket with bright green zippers, a military green backpack and black and tan gloves," court documents state.  "He had short, dark hair which was trimmed to the skin along the edges of his hairline."

As officers tried to physically block more people from getting past the doors, Warnagiris "positioned himself in the corner of the doorway and seemed to use his body to help keep the door partially open and reached for individuals pushing their way through to help pull them inside," the documents state.

A police officer tried to position himself between the Marine and the people outside, but Warnagiris allegedly pushed the door open further.  The police officer then tried to push Warnagiris out of the way.

The Marine allegedly responded by pushing the police officer back "to maintain his position in the open door," the documents state.

"This struggle between Warnagiris and Officer A.W. can be seen in the security footage captured at approximately 2:27 PM," the documents add.

Footage of Warnagiris inside the Capitol was also captured by a videographer for RMG News, according to the complaint, along with footage posted to YouTube by Freedom News TV.

An unnamed witness who saw photos of Warnagiris online reported to the FBI that they recognized him as an active-duty Marine Corps officer.  The witness said they worked near Warnagiris about once a week for six months in 2019.

On March 17, federal agents met with members of Warnagiris' command and interviewed one of his coworkers, the complaint states.  That witness also said they believed Warnagiris was the person seen in video footage inside the Capitol, according to the complaint.

-- This story is developing

AMERICAN TALIBAN - John Walker Lindh

"Release of ‘American Taliban’ raises questions about U.S. efforts to deradicalize" PBS NewsHour 5/23/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  John Walker Lindh, who became known as the "American Taliban," was released from federal prison Thursday, three years short of his 20-year sentence.  President Trump criticized the release, saying Lindh was still an extremist.  Nick Schifrin reports and talks to Kevin Lowry, who was chief probation officer for the U.S. district court in Minnesota, about how the U.S. deals with convicted radicals.

CRIME SCENES - Access to Violent Extremist Videos

"When limiting access to violent extremist videos could be erasing evidence" PBS NewsHour 9/13/2017

The answer is, WHY and by WHO the video is posted?  Was it posted for sensitizing violence, an extremest view, or to promote hate?

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Aiming to remove violent and extremist content from its website, YouTube took down hundreds of videos from the Syrian war.  But researchers and advocates have pushed back, claiming the company removed potential evidence of human rights violations.  Former U.S. Ambassador Stephen Rapp and Issie Lapowsky of Wired Magazine, join Hari Sreenivasan to discuss these concerns.

PARIS RECKONING - Anti-Radicalization Conference

"Relatives of Western jihadist fighters go public, hoping to stop others" PBS NewsHour 5/3/2016

Excerpts

SUMMARY:  Relatives of fighters who joined the Islamic State militants and other groups came together at an anti-radicalization conference in Paris with hopes of reaching a turning point in the fight against extremism.  Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  While we’re reporting on that war-torn country, for months, we have reported on Western-born young people who travel to Syria to join the Islamic State.

Parents and relatives of some of the young European men who’d joined ISIS and other extremist groups met late last week at a conference in Paris.  Among the group were also family members of victims of the terrorist attacks last fall in Paris.  They gathered to grieve, to condemn terrorism and the extremism that drives it, and look for ways to prevent other young people from following the fates of their loved ones.

From Paris, special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports.

MALCOLM BRABANT (NewsHour):  This is the Bataclan club, where Islamist gunmen slaughtered 89 concert-goers last November the 13th.

It was, briefly, a place of pilgrimage for a group of people inextricably linked to the massacre through the ideology embraced by their relatives, even though they didn’t participate in the attack.

Karolina Dam, mother of 18-year-old Lukas, a boy with learning difficulties, converted and radicalized in Denmark and believed killed in an airstrike on the Syrian Turkish border.  Janne Mortensen (ph), also from Denmark, whose convert foster son, Kenneth, was killed in Syria three years ago.

Briton Michael Evans, whose brother Thomas converted and joined Al-Shabaab in Africa.  This footage shows the jihadist with the nom de guerre Abdul Hakim just before he was killed in a battle with Kenyan troops.

MICHAEL EVANS, Brother of Killed Foreign Fighter:  It’s just such a tragic waste of life.  You know, people out just enjoying their night were cut down for nothing.  It’s so sad to be here.  I don’t understand how someone who is my own flesh and blood could be — could think like this.  I just don’t understand.

MALCOLM BRABANT:  Canadian Christianne Boudreau wants deradicalization programs to make the most of the experiences of families like these, by using them as educators, helpers, and guides.

She’s campaigning in memory of her convert son Damian killed in fighting near Aleppo in Syria.
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BJORN IHLER, Utoya Survivor:  All forms of extremism are very similar in many ways.  Extremism thrives on the same kind of factors regardless of what ideology is titled.  And at the end of the day, their ideology very quickly becomes just an excuse, essentially, for being violent.

The issues we need to address are not necessarily the theological issues, but rather the ideological issue of violence and how violence is being used for political means.

WAR ON ISIS - Child Suicide Bombers

 "ISIS is recruiting more children to carry out massacres" PBS NewsHour 3/3/2016

aka "Child Murders"

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  A new report found there were three times as many suicide attacks in the Middle East committed by children this year compared to last.  Experts blame Islamic State propaganda that glorifies martyrdom for indoctrinating orphaned and disaffected children to extremist views.  Hari Sreenivasan talks to Mia Bloom of Georgia State University for more on the changing face of Islamic terrorism.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  A new report published by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point chronicles the increasing use of children as fighters for the so-called Islamic State.

The report’s authors, based at Georgia State University in Atlanta, documented the Islamic State’s own propaganda, which praises deceased young fighters as martyrs.  It shows how the group uses children and youth in suicide operations.  They found three times as many suicide attacks involving young people in January of this year than last year.

For more on the study’s findings and what they mean, we’re joined by one of the report’s authors, professor Mia Bloom.

Problem Bloom, unfortunately, child soldiers aren’t anything new.  So, how is ISIS using them differently?

MIA BLOOM, Georgia State University:  So, we started our study with a baseline looking at the literature on child soldiers, looking at biographies and autobiographies of people who had been child soldiers, in order to get a sense of what we thought we might expect.

And so we expected that children would be used when they ran out of adults or when they couldn’t find adults, or that children would be used against civilian targets.  And we didn’t find either of those.  Instead, what we found was that children in ISIS are used alongside the adults, not instead, and, in fact, only 3 percent of the time were children used against civilian targets; 61 percent of the time, they were going after what we would call hard targets, military, police, militias, and the army.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  So they’re doing just what the grownups do.

MIA BLOOM:  They’re doing exactly what the grownups do, and, in fact, we found considerably more suicide bombers than anyone expected.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  And you said — you actually break it down; 39 percent are driving basically car bombs?

MIA BLOOM:  Thirty-nine percent were car bombs.  These were vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, so it’s a VBIED.

But many of the children were also wearing what we would call a suicide belt, which is an individual IED that is attached to them, so they were part of these marauding raids, these inghimasi, so they would go into the target, shoot and then blow up the IED or the suicide belt at the end of the operation.

WEST AFRICA - Freeing Hostages

"Cameroon, Nigeria join forces to free Boko Haram hostages" PBS NewsHour 2/29/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Hundreds of hostages held by the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram were freed over the weekend after a joint raid by Cameroonian and Nigerian forces.  The raid followed increased U.S. military efforts to cooperate with regional governments against the jihadist group, which has killed more than 20,000 people over the last six years.  Gwen Ifill talks to special correspondent Nick Schifrin for more.

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  Over the weekend, several hundred hostages of the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram were freed.  It happened during a raid by Nigerian and Cameroonian forces along the border between the two African nations.

The raid comes as the U.S. military has moved to increase cooperation with regional governments to fight the jihadist group.  Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, or ISIS, last year.  According to Amnesty International, the six-year uprising has killed more than 20,000 people.  Another 2.8 million have been forced from their homes in Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, and Chad.

Boko Haram gained worldwide infamy in 2014 after kidnapping more than 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in Northeastern Nigeria.  That sparked a global campaign to free the girls, with the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls as a social media rallying cry.  The girls’ plight was a contributing factor to then-President Goodluck Jonathan’s election loss last year.

The U.S. has military personnel operating a new drone base in Cameroon to provide intelligence. And there is now discussion of sending American special forces near the front lines of Nigeria’s fight against Boko Haram.  They would advise the military in its operations.

I’m joined now by special correspondent Nick Schifrin.  He’s currently on assignment for us in Nairobi, Kenya, and he reported in-depth from Nigeria for the “NewsHour” last year.

Nick, it’s good to talk to you again.

So, tell us what you know about this new U.S. engagement in Nigeria.

NICK SCHIFRIN (NewsHour):  Yes, Gwen, good evening.

There’s a new recommendation by the U.S. military’s top Africa Command that one to three dozen special operations forces troops be deployed to Northeastern Nigeria.  This is what the military calls an advise-and-assist mission.

They are towards the front lines, but not really on the front lines, advising the Nigerian military in their fight, assisting that fight, things like intelligence and training those troops.  Now, this is just a recommendation right now.  This will have to go through the State Department and the Pentagon and the White House.

But this is what the military in Africa wants.  And it’s what one military official describes as a national progression to a real escalation in what the U.S. has been doing against Boko Haram and helping the Nigerians.  The first step in that is intelligence.  There’s a new drone base in nearby Northern Cameroon.  Predator drones have been supplying the Nigerian and the countries all along the Lake Chad Basin with imagery, with intelligence, so they can go after Boko Haram.

That’s new in the last few months.  And just in the last few years, the U.S. has resumed a training mission in Northwestern Nigeria.  That is for Nigerian special forces far from the front line.  That’s a mission the U.S. has really been trying to resume after it ended about a year ago.

And, Gwen this is in addition to real concerted effort diplomatically to try and help the Nigerians improve things like the police. So, this is a real escalation in the U.S. helping Nigeria and all the countries fighting Boko Haram.

VIEWS ON ISLAM - Divergent Voices

"How do we reconcile today’s divergent voices of Islam?" PBS NewsHour 12/23/2015

IMHO:  ISIS is NOT Islam and has no right to speak for all of Islam.

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  With the rise of the Islamic State group, there have been questions about just who speaks for Islam and what the message should be.  Chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Warner talks with Manal Omar of the United States Institute of Peace and Asra Nomani, co-founder of the Muslim Reform Movement, about standing up to violent religious extremism.

MARGARET WARNER (NewsHour):  The recent terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, its perpetrators inspired by jihadist ideology, have reignited a long-running debate about the nature of Islam and its links to violent extremism.

In his address after the San Bernardino killings, President Obama urged Americans not to scapegoat all Muslims.  But he also called on Muslims to combat what he described as a dangerous trend in their faith.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:  An extremist ideology has spread within some Muslim communities.  This is a real problem that Muslims must confront, without excuse.

MARGARET WARNER:  The next day, leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called for a temporary ban on foreign Muslims entering the U.S. and a more watchful approach to those living here.

DONALD TRUMP, Republican Presidential Candidate:  We have to look at mosques.  And we have to respect mosques.  But, yes, we have to look at mosques.  We have no choice.  We have to see what’s happening, because something is happening in there.  Man, there’s anger.  There’s anger.  And we have to know about it.

MARGARET WARNER:  Democratic contender Hillary Clinton has taken the opposite tack in discussing Islam.

HILLARY CLINTON, Democratic Presidential Candidate:  Islam is not our adversary.  Muslims are peaceful and tolerant people, and have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism.

MARGARET WARNER:  This debate extends to the global Muslim community as well.  Jordan’s King Abdullah, who speaks often of a war within Islam, insists Islamic State militants are way outside the mainstream.

KING ABDULLAH II BIN AL-HUSSEIN, Jordan:  These are outlaws.  These are renegades.  They have nothing to do of understanding what our religion is about.

MARGARET WARNER:  The struggle to understand and agree on what Islam represents in an age of terror is sure to continue.

And, for more, we’re joined by two Muslim American women, both former journalists.  Manal Omar is associate vice president for the Middle East and Africa Center at U.S. Institute of Peace.  And Asra Nomani is co-founder of Muslim Reform Movement.  She’s also the author of “Standing Alone:  An American Woman’s Struggle for the Soul of Islam.”

WAR ON EXTREMISTS - Countering Recruitment Videos

"Countering Islamic extremist recruitment videos with a cartoon spoof" PBS NewsHour 4/6/2015

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Minnesota may be a world away from Syria or Iraq, but the state’s large Somali community has made it an appealing field for seeking recruits for al-Shabab and other Islamic militant groups.  Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro reports on one Minneapolis man’s efforts to offset extremist propaganda with his own media campaign.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO (NewsHour):  A kind of cartoon war has been declared in Minneapolis, one aimed mainly at young Muslim men.

It is a world away from Syria, Iraq or the Horn of Africa, but Minnesota is home to at least 30,000 Somalis, the largest such community in the U.S.  Most are refugees from a war-torn nation that’s long been a haven for Islamist extremist groups.

Groups like the al-Qaida linked Al-Shabaab and Islamic State, or ISIS, have recruited from this community, mainly through videos on the Internet.  The FBI says up to 40 young men from Minnesota have traveled to Somalia and Syria since 2007.

In response, 39-year-old Mohamed Amin Ahmed, convenience store manager who’s lived here since 1998, developed his own media campaign.

MOHAMED AMIN AHMED:  My goal is to compete, to take the values of the majority of the Muslims and go after the kids between the age of 8 and 16 and compete for their mind-space.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO:  What offended you the most?

MOHAMED AMIN AHMED:  The fact that they claim my faith.  It is the greatest inheritance we have is our faith.

OPINION - Shields and Brooks 2/20/2015

"Shields and Brooks on fighting Islamic extremism, Giuliani on Obama" PBS NewsHour 2/20/2015

Excerpts

SUMMARY:  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week’s news, including the White House summit on fighting extremism, Jeb Bush’s foreign policy platform, Rudy Giuliani’s comments about President Obama’s upbringing and patriotism, as well as the Clintons’ foreign financial ties.
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MARK SHIELDS, syndicated columnist:  I think, Judy, that I think the President was right.

It is wrong to say that this is a religious movement as such.  David makes the point, I think validly so, that this is a splinter group from this religion.  Most of the victims of the Islamic State have been Muslims.  Most of the opponents are Muslims.

But it does have a theological component to it.  That’s its farm system.  That’s from whom it’s drawing.  It’s a battle of nomenclature.  I think there was a reluctance on the part of the administration to ever say it.  They have said it.  The President was very clear.

But at the same time, you want to make a distinction.  This is 26 percent of the world’s population.  And you just don’t want to give the impression, the misimpression, that this is a war against Islam.  It isn’t.  It’s a war against these people who come and call themselves the Islamic State and who do come from Islamic groups.  But I think you have to grant it is a perversion.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Mark has a point, doesn’t he?

DAVID BROOKS, New York Times:  Well, no, I think it’s a perversion because they’re so inhumane.

What’s the Pascal phrase, they try to be higher than the angels, they end up lower than the beast.  And so that’s clearly what is happening to them.  They have turned themselves into monsters.  But there was lot of monstrosity in the wars of religion in the 15th century in Europe.  They were certainly religious wars.

And so I do think you have to take the religion seriously, that these people are — it’s not like they can’t get what we want.  They want something they think is higher than what we want.  Their souls are involved.  And I’m saying you have to conceive of them as moving, as acting in a religious way.

And you have to have religious alternatives.  And they are driven by an end times ideology.  They think there’s going to be some cataclysm battle and Mohammed will come down.  And if you ignore that part of it, write it off as sort of marginal, that they are being produced by economic dysfunction, I just think you’re missing the main deal.

BRITAIN - Muslims Feeling Not-British

"For Muslims in U.K., not feeling ‘British’ can lead some to extremism" (1 of 2) PBS NewsHour 1/26/2015

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Nearly a third of the 15,000 foreign fighters for Islamic State are Muslims from Western Europe, seeking an alternative to the alienation some feel here at home.  Chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Warner reports from London on how cultural isolation and discrimination can help drive young Western recruits to embrace radicalism.

JUDY WOODRUFF (News Hour):  The Paris attacks a few weeks ago brought Europe’s growing Islamic extremist threat into sharp focus.

Our chief foreign affairs correspondent, Margaret Warner visited another European country, the United Kingdom, to see what’s driving young Muslims there to extremism and what’s being done about it.

Tonight, we bring you the first of her two reports.

MARGARET WARNER (News Hour):  It’s a gruesome scene become too familiar since august.

Kneeling hostages, NewsHour policy is not to show these videos, and a masked killer from the Islamic State — speaking in English.

The British voices shocked people here — awakening them to the fact that close to one third of the estimated 15,000 foreign fighters for Islamic state or ISIS.  Are Muslims from Western Europe seeking an alternative to their sense of alienation at home?

PETER NEUMANN:  The solution to this is that Muslims unite, rediscover their Muslim identity, completely divorce themselves from any form of western identity and start defending their identity if necessary by violent means.

Peter Neumann whose center for the study of radicalization at King’s College, London monitors nearly 700 foreign fighters through social media says Islamic State has crafted a powerful appeal.

"U.K. government and community groups struggle to stop Islamic radicalization spike" (2 of 2) PBS NewsHour 1/27/2015

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  British authorities say that hundreds of Muslims have left the United Kingdom to join jihadist groups in Syria.  As counterterrorism officials try to track the flow of potential fighters in and out of the country, some in the British Muslim community are working to help young people resist the call of radicalization.  Chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Warner reports from London.

DEVIL'S CULT - Muslim Extremism

"What’s driving European Muslims to extremism?" PBS NewsHour 1/8/2015

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The brothers who attacked satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo had a secular Muslim upbringing before their apparent radicalization.  What's leading young European Muslims to embrace extremism?  Peter Neumann of King's College London says it’s a conflict of identity and acceptance.  Neumann talks to Judy Woodruff about increasing polarization and what governments can do prevent attacks.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  The New York Times reported late today that one of the brothers being hunted for the Paris attack received training at an al-Qaida training camp in Yemen. This is according to a senior American official.

The brothers, who were born and raised in France, had a secular Muslim upbringing before their apparent radicalization.  There have, of course, been other attacks on the continent, and thousands of European Muslim extremists have traveled to Iraq and Syria to fight.

To find out more about what’s leading to the radicalization of many of these young men, I spoke earlier this afternoon to Peter Neumann, director of The International Center for the Study of Radicalization.  He’s at King’s College.

Peter Neumann, thank you for talking with us.

First of all, what do you think is most important for us to know about this attack, about these two brothers in terms of understanding what went into this, what was behind it?

PETER NEUMANN, King’s College, London:  I think the two brothers are interesting because they had a long history of extremism.

At least one of them has been active in jihadist circles for over 10 years.  So these were not inexperienced people.  These were not people who were the typical lone wolves who were radicalized over the Internet.  These were experienced operators.

The second important thing is the change of modus operandi that we are witnessing.  Really, over the past 10, 15 years, we have been lucky, because the jihadists have been trying to emulate 9/11, very complicated, complex, big attacks.  Now they are trying to do less complicated attacks, which they realize can inflict as much horror and terror and polarization on society, but which are much more difficult to detect.

I would expect to see more things like that to happen in 2015.

"Why resentment is growing between Christians and Muslims in Marseille" PBS NewsHour 1/8/2015

COMMENT:  The article title begs a "DUH?"

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The deadly attack on Charlie Hebdo puts a spotlight on the growing tensions between France's Muslim and immigrant communities and a large portion of French society, which is traditionally Catholic.  The NewsHour’s Megan Thompson recently visited Marseille, one of the country’s most diverse cities, to report on the root of the conflict and the rise of anti-Muslim sentiment in France.

IRAQ - As 'Democracy' Sinks Further Into the Mud

REMINDER:  Iraq has never historically been, and is not now, democratic.  This is a nation where the people place tribal/ethnic loyalties above national loyalty.

"Qaeda-Aligned Militants Threaten Key Iraqi Cities" by YASIR GHAZI and TIM ARANGO, New York Times 1/3/2014

Excerpt

Radical Sunni militants aligned with Al Qaeda fought for control of Falluja and Ramadi on Friday, escalating a battle over the two cities that have increasingly become centers of Sunni extremism since American forces withdrew from the country at the end of 2011.

Over the past several days, the Iraqi government has rushed troop reinforcements to the areas in the western province of Anbar, where the militants, dressed in black and waving the flag of Al Qaeda, have commandeered mosque loudspeakers to call for supporters to join their struggle.  On Thursday, they set fire to police stations, freed prisoners from jail and occupied mosques.

The fighting picked up again on Friday after what appeared to be a morning lull.

In Falluja, traffic police officers returned to work and municipal workers cleaned the streets and fixed electricity lines.  Messages broadcast from mosque loudspeakers asked merchants to reopen their shops because residents had begun running out of food after days of fighting.

Later in the day, the calm was shattered.  Local imams had decided to hold Friday prayers in a public park, rather than in areas closer to the fighting, and as services were concluding large numbers of masked militants affiliated with Al Qaeda appeared and took the stage.  Waving a black flag, one fighter shouted to the crowd: “We declare Falluja as an Islamic state and we call on you to be on our side.”

“We are here to defend you from the army of Maliki and the Iranian Safavids,” the fighter continued.  “We welcome the return of all workers, even the local police, but they have to be under our state and our rule.”

Also on Friday, gunmen blew up several government buildings in Falluja, including the police headquarters, the local council and the office of the mayor, according to a security official.

As fighting spread, the militants recaptured that had been liberated by security forces and their tribal allies.  Fighting was also said to have picked up again in Ramadi, and one official said four soldiers had been killed.

POLITICS - Fiscal Cliff, From the REAL Republican Party

As seen by today's Republican Party, aka Tea Party.

"A Tea Party Take on U.S. Debt, Federal Budget Deal Negotiations" PBS Newshour 12/27/2012

Excerpt

MARGARET WARNER (Newshour): We return to our series of different voices and viewpoints on the nation's fiscal cliff debate.

Tea party activists took aim at government spending three years ago, with protests and rallies in Washington and elsewhere. The national group FreedomWorks helped organized many of those events and financed fiscally conservative tea party-backed candidates in 2010 and this year.

So, where does the tea party movement stand on the fiscal decisions at hand today?

For that, we turn to Matt Kibbe, FreedomWorks' president and CEO.

AFRICA - Islamic Fanatics Destroying Mali Culture

NOTE: Many Malians ARE Muslims. This situation highlights what happens when fanatics/extremists of any shade take control. In this case, the militants believe that the Mali Muslims are not 'pure' enough.

"Islamic Militants Destroy Malian Cultural Heritage, Purporting a 'Pure Islam'" PBS Newshour 8/23/2012

Excerpt

SUMMARY: Many Malians harmoniously practice Islam alongside cultural traditions such as animism. But these Malians fear that they will be the first targeted as infidels by Islamic militants, who have already destroyed traditional Malian shrines. Lindsey Hilsum of Independent Television News reports.

JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour): .....another story from the West African nation of Mali.

Earlier this week, Lindsey Hilsum of Independent Television News reported on the rise of Islamic militants and the exodus of refugees.

LINDSEY HILSUM: Mali, one of the most culturally diverse countries on Earth, a land of music, mud mosques, ancient Islamic manuscripts, animists, all now under threat.

About 50 miles from the capital, Bamako, I meet the Hunters. They brandish their 19th century flintlock rifles and their talismans. The Islamists who now control Northern Mali hate all this, but the Hunters culture goes back 1,000 years, and they like to show it off.

These men see themselves as Muslims, but they mix their Islam with animism, traditional culture, and they know that, if the Islamists came down from the north to here, then they'd be the first target. But they're an essential part of Malian culture.

They show me how they aim their rifles, no shooting, though, because it's Ramadan, and they say they can always send magic to destroy the Islamists.

DAGABA TRAORE, Hunters community leader (through translator): We're scared of the new Islamic wave. When they see us wearing Hunters clothes, they won't regard us as Muslims. They will automatically think we're infidels who cannot know Allah.

But our external appearance is different from what we feel inside. These foreigners are showing us a kind of Islam which has never been Prophet Mohammed's message, by taking knives and killing others.

AFRICA - Mali Refugees Flee

"Refugees Flee Mali to Escape Sharia Law Under Islamic Militants and al-Qaida" PBS Newshour 8/22/2012

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour): Earlier this week, Lindsey Hilsum of Independent Television News reported on Islamic militants who now control two-thirds of the country. Violence and harsh punishments carried out by the militants have driven thousands to flee to neighboring Mauritania.

Tonight, Hilsum has the stories of families crossing the border.

LINDSEY HILSUM: It's been a long journey, three days' trek through desert. Another seven families who have loaded everything they have onto their carts and crossed the border into Mauritania. Fear and hunger drove them out of Northern Mali.

They tell their story to the police chief in the border town of Fassala.

CALIFORNIA - Black Panther History

"Man who armed Black Panthers was FBI informant, records show" by Seth Rosenfeld, California Watch 8/20/2012

Excerpt

The man who gave the Black Panther Party some of its first firearms and weapons training – which preceded fatal shootouts with Oakland police in the turbulent 1960s – was an undercover FBI informer, according to a former bureau agent and an FBI report.

One of the Bay Area’s most prominent radical activists of the era, Richard Masato Aoki was known as a fierce militant who touted his street-fighting abilities. He was a member of several radical groups before joining and arming the Panthers, whose members received international notoriety for brandishing weapons during patrols of the Oakland police and a protest at the state Legislature.

AFRICA - Mali Seized by Islamic Militants

"Islamic Militants in Failed State of Mali Seize Control and Impose Sharia Law" PBS Newshour 8/20/2012

Excerpt

SUMMARY: In April 2012, Islamists and local Tuareg rebels entered the city of Timbuktu and seized control, imposing sharia law. Now, popular militias train to take back the northern part of the country from the militants, who are backed by al-Qaida and other foreign jihadis. Lindsey Hilsum of Independent Television News reports.

COMMENT: Even though it's their country and they have the right to decide what they want, it is sad to see an EXTREME form of religion take hold anywhere in the world.

EUROPE - Violent Extremists

"How Organized Are Europe's Political and Violent Extremists?"
PBS Newshour 7/25/2011

MIDDLE EAST - Lands of the Scorpion

"...Because It's The Middle East" by Bob Schieffer, Face the Nation

When the war broke out in the Middle East, I thought about the old story of the frog and the scorpion who were trying to cross a river there.

The scorpion couldn't swim and the frog was lost, so the scorpion proposed a deal: Give me a ride on your back and I'll show you the way.

The frog agreed and the trip went fine until they got to the middle of the river and the scorpion stung the frog. As they were sinking, the frog asked in his dying breath, "why would you do that?"

To which the scorpion replied, "because it is the Middle East."

The actual application of the parable is that in the Middle East the extremists, on all sides of the issues, "sting" any hope for peace. No matter what "they" say, they act like scorpions. They cannot seem to help it.